About

The University of Minnesota Prevention Research Center (PRC) in the School of Public Health (SPH) continues a legacy of hosting a PRC focused on advancing wellbeing, reducing inequities, and promoting disease prevention policies, programs, and practices over the past 30 years. This iteration of the PRC will focus on improving health and wellness among children and families at risk for obesity-related disease in underserved communities.

Childhood obesity in the United States is a growing problem; research and interventions to tackle this issue are critical. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the prevalence of obesity among U.S. children and adolescents was 19.7% between 2017-2020. This means that approximately 14.7 million U.S. young people aged 2–19 years are at risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other chronic conditions.

Given the well-documented systemic drivers of health inequity and powerful social determinants of health and weight, the center’s work will focus on youth and families from historically underserved communities, including those of lower income and those identifying as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color). This is critical as the CDC reported that overall obesity prevalence was highest in Hispanic children (26.2%) and non-Hispanic Black children (24.8%) followed by non-Hispanic white (16.6%) and non-Hispanic Asian (9.0%) children.[1]

The PRC, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is part of a network of 20 academic research centers conducting community-based applied public health research to address chronic diseases and other leading causes of death and disability in the United States.

Mission

The University of Minnesota Prevention Research Center will focus on the CDC’s priority area of improving nutrition, physical activity, health, and wellness among children most at risk for weight-related health issues from households with lower incomes and from historically underserved communities. The center’s work is grounded in best practices for dissemination and implementation research and leverages deep and long-standing partnerships with community leaders, public health agencies, health organizations, and other key stakeholder networks with shared commitments to healthy weight promotion.

Goals

The primary goals of the University of Minnesota Prevention Research Center are to develop and disseminate actionable knowledge, enhance community and cross-sector collaboration, build infrastructure, and expand training for healthy weight promotion in youth and their families. Specifically, the PRC will:

1. Implement an applied research and translation agenda to develop and disseminate knowledge for evidence-based innovations in applied public health service supporting healthy weight promotion.
2. Create and support infrastructure, resources, and partnerships that fortify the ability of the PRC to advance public health practice for scalable, healthy-weight promotion efforts.
3. Prepare future leaders in healthy weight research and public health practice to effectively and respectfully engage in community-based efforts to enhance health in scalable ways.
4. Enhance public health workforce capacity to leverage scientific evidence for innovations in practice.
5. Collaborate with PRC network partners across the U.S. to enhance the national network and its impact.